Some trails have a view, and some trails ARE the view. This one is the latter. Which makes it even more of a shame that searching online for Rainbow Mountain yields two major misconceptions about this hike. One is that you will find a Dr. Suess-drenched literal rainbow mountain that the Photoshopped and heavily filtered photos implore you to believe exists. The second is that the point of this hike should even BE Rainbow Mountain. It’s a cool little mountain but somewhat underwhelming after a difficult hike at 16,000 feet. But the rest of the hike! The valley is dripping in purples and greens, rust reds and Caribbean aquas, as if a painter has carelessly tossed all his brushes aside over the ragged peaks thrusting themselves diagonally through the grassy floor. Sheep and the occasional horse dot the landscape, grazing, seemingly oblivious to the beauty surrounding them. You’re rewarded to glimpses of the snow-blanketed Ausangate Mountain, and clouds spilling into the valley on the far side of Vinicunca.

This hike is not steep and would not be difficult save for the altitude. It affected us all a lot more than we anticipated. The coca tea (3 soles) at the top helped but we all had headaches the whole next day, never mind the struggle to the top. It gets cold and windy; dress appropriately. Entrance is 10 soles and you can also hire a horse to ride up. We didn’t start at the parking lot but found a spot on the side of the road, which added about 3.5 miles roundtrip (some of my pics are from that part of the trail). The drive is sketchy; you can find day tours that leave by bus from Cusco, but we drove ourselves. There is also a 3-day trek.

The trek from km 82 to Machu Picchu is longer than what’s listed in the description here. The actual distance is 26 miles. We booked a four-day Trek with Alpaca Expeditions and were very happy with our choice. They offered amazing service for a reasonable price.

Finished the four-day Inca Trail and capped it off with a hike up Huayna Picchu. The trail is mostly stairs and via ferrata (metal cables bolted into the rock that you can use to pull yourself up). It’s very steep, and the average time it takes to complete it is two hours.

A great alternative to the Inca Trail - you get to see high mountains with snow, the jungle, the country... it's really nice! However there's a lot more climbing down than up so your knees may hurt! And the afternoon of the second day is really muddy, so boots are recommended.

Just returned from the most rewarding experience in my life. My wife and I did the trail for our 60th birthday, day two was challenging, but reaching the top of Dead Woman Pass and being one with Pacha Mama was well worth it.

Just returned from Machu Picchu. The trails around there are difficult for sure and the trek up Huayna Picchu was steep and difficult. I live in a town whose elevation is around 500, so the trail was made that much more difficult to me since I am not used to the altitude. The trail at some points was so steep that I had to use my hands to climb up the rocks in front of me. I could barely breath, my legs were burning, and my pack was too heavy, but it was the best hike I've EVER done hands down. The reward of the top was totally worth it and it will be in my heart forever. p.s. it felt like the walk through Machu Picchu and the hike up to the top of Huayna Picchu was more...much more than 2 miles...

Hiked up to the sun gate after we came back down from Huayna Picchu. My legs were jelly to start with and I thought it would just be a little, short walk to the sun gate. Wrong. Slow and steady uphill most of the way with steeper bits and though and it takes about 45 min to an hour to get there (had to take a break or 5 lol). It was much quieter up there and it was a beautiful hike! Totally recommend.

Difficult and nerve-wracking at various points of the hike - even at the very top. But as most of the reviews point out, it's a cannot miss...so get those tired legs loosened up from your trek and get after it

This is a gorgeous trek with lots of great mountain landscapes. Here is a trip report I wrote describing my experience on the Salkantay Trek. https://backpackersreview.wordpress.com/trip-reports/machu-picchu-salkantay-trek/